YEAH! It's Christmas Time

This year's tree decor...a little different from last year

Our Ian Angel ornament
(experimenting with the camera)

So far, this year's tree is my favorite of the 11 years of decorating our Christmas Tree. I told DH I've always wanted my tree to look like what I see in the stores...beautiful. Last year I felt like I was very close, but this year, I feel like maybe I've "arrived". Anyways...I love getting it set up and enjoy it throughout the holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving as a family.

What are we thankful for...well, just look at the scowling bundle in pink in the photo.
(I don't know why she was scowling...oh wait, we had already taken one photo, that's likely what it was from! Silly Megan.)

Blog Award

I'm so honored! I've been awarded the uber amazing blog award by Tracey. (Okay, so I got it last week, I'm a bit behind!) I'm so excited! Tracey & I "met" by being each other's Secret Blog Pal this fall.

Here is a little bit about the award: The "uber" (synonym for super) is a blog award given to sites who:
- inspire you
- make you smile and laugh
- or maybe give you amazing information
- a great read
- has an amazing design
- and any other reason you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

The rules of the award are:

1-Put the logo on your blog or post.
2- Nominate at least five blogs (can be more) that for you are uber amazing
3- Let them know that they have received this uber amazing award by commenting on their blog
4-Share the love by linking to this post and the person you received the award from.

So, here are my award recipients:

1. Wendy at Adoption & Fire. I've gotten to know Wendy when we were both waiting for our girls. She was logged in 7 days after us and we got referrals at the same time! She traveled before us so had Catherine just days before we got Megan. Wendy always has such a great information on her blog. She's a Fire Chaplain and is always so inspiring! And I love seeing new photos of Catherine!

2. Debbie over at Family Reunion. Debbie always has such great information! Besides Izzy is an absolute doll!

3. Christy over at To Mia with Love. I found her blog because of a "fluke" when she was skipped and didn't receive her referral when she was supposed to. Later she found out her daughter was "running late"...and she was matched to Mia. Mia is also a Hunan princess. Christy is the one who recommended the lady who I found all Megan's hair clips from (Love to Sparkle)...and for that, I cannot be grateful enough! (DH might not agree! haha!)

4. D & A over at Around the World and 2 Kids. D & A just returned from Ethiopia with their precious Ella. They are waiting for their child from China as well. Yes, I know them in the real world, but I love their humor and honesty about the waiting, waiting, waiting. Besides Ella is absolutely PRECIOUS!

5. Tracey. I don't know if I can actually do that...but I'm going to! I am so glad that I was her Secret Blog Pal and have gotten to know her! I regularly check her blog to see her posts which range from inspirational to humorous. Can't wait until little Sam is born!!!

18 months Old

She's has always loved to throw the balls onto the shelf...
but now she's found a new "purpose" for it!
(oh man, that's dusty, ugh.)

She's "snuggling" blankey...while playing music, of course.

Okay, so I'm a few days late...but Megan has officially moved in the "difficult" age (I recently read an article that said when kids hit their 1/2 birthday they test their independence and become more "difficult" to parent). Some highlights....

• She has 12 teeth (currently working on the next 4)
  
• She is running
• She weighs 24.2 lbs (50th percentile) and is 30.5 inches tall (25th percentile)
• She's FINALLY out of size 6-9 mo (mostly anyways)
• She's "talking" more
• She loves to make EVERYTHING a phone (including a small piece of paper)
  
• She says "hi" ALL THE TIME!!! (Especially in stores...and will get increasingly louder if people don't acknowledge her.)
• She knows what a cow, sheep, horse, duck and dog say
• She knows 9 body parts
• She loves to blow kisses
• She loves to snuggle--even snuggling with the dogs (aka resting her head on them)
• She is sleeping so much better...some nights better than others, but overall getting at least 11 hours of sleep, but does get 12 occasionally.
  

There are many more things she does, but I can't think of them right at this moment. She's growing up so fast. Even at her most difficult, she's still SO SWEET! We are definitely blessed.

Down Right Scary

Okay...I am going to interrupt this "Megan blog" for just a moment. I saw this in an article and it is disturbing, yet confirms what I suspected.



Well, you can see the source at the end of the video. One other thing, a documentary is coming out with more information. There is more information on the website at the end.

NOTE: I'M MORE FRUSTRATED WITH THE MEDIA FOR NOT DOING THEIR JOB: report the facts on both candidates.

Okay, returning to regular "programming" (aka Megan!).

Our future Cook

This weekend we decided it was time to move the treadmill out of the office and move in Megan's play kitchen. She got it as a shower gift from DH's work, and now that she is walking around almost all the time, we figured it was a good time to get it out. She doesn't ENTIRELY get the concept, but I figure if we consistently show her what to do, she'll get it. (Besides, she is a little young for imagination play.)

Don't I have a cute hat???

What's in here????

Photos & Stuff

SUPER Wild hair from this morning.
I think the bananas, turkey and pasta sauce all helped!

Okay, so may not the best photo, but doesn't she look AMAZING
in the color of these pjs?

She was being so snuggly on this morning
(probably one we were up at 330!)
She had never done this before.

Every day I am amazed at how blessed I am to be Megan's mommy. She is the most precious, adorable little girl. I am moved to tears to think about our life with her. Of course, we could sleep past 4am, but what's a little sleep! She's more than worth missing sleep for a few months!

A funny...

This morning Megan wanted to get on her scooter...she stood there for a few minutes looking at me yelling "aaahhhh". I asked her "do you want on your scooter?"--she just yelled some more. I said "sign please" (as I'm illustrating the sign). She looks at me, signs "share" then "my turn". Now, some background...in her favorite movie they have "please", "share", "your turn" and "my turn" in a song. So, whether she was simply doing what the song does...or she was telling me I needed to share and it was her turn to get on the scooter, who knows. But, it sure was funny!

Check up

Finding the dog bones for...

Making what I call "Bone art"
She loves to arrange them on the floor.
(well, actually, just throw them on the floor!)

On Monday we went to a new doctor (one closer to home) and got Megan's flu shot. While we were there we were able to get her 18 month check up out of the way, too. She weighs 24 lbs 2 oz and is 30.5 inches tall! That means since her medical exam in China, she's gained 11lbs and grown 7.5 inches! That's INCREDIBLE for about 7 months! It's no wonder she eats like an adult! Seriously, she does. The other night she ate almost an entire chicken leg and thigh. Needless to say, that was when we decided we now need to make a full piece of chicken just for her! She does love chicken--she is my girl!

The face is healing nicely...the scab has fallen off and the mark is barely visible. It's supposed to be REALLY cold (okay, cold by Texas standards!) and windy on Saturday when we are doing pictures. Go figure (it's been in the 70s!). So, I'm having to think about back ups for keeping Megan warm. I had planned on having her wear a cute dress shirt/onesie with a lacy collar and cuffs from Children's Place (that I now cannot find online to link here), and she still will. But, I'll have an undershirt on her as well as thick tights. It's a good thing her pants are too big! That's a lot of extra around the booty (tights with 2 onesies!)!!! Guess she'll have an extra warm tush! haha. I'm also planning on bringing a warm blanket that we can wrap her in between shots. Grandma V is coming to ensure Megan will smile (she has the magical touch!) so she can hold the blanket & jackets while we're taking photos.

Okay, nap time as started, I need to get some research done!

Cheek Vs. Dishwasher

Yep, you guessed it. The dishwasher won. The door just doesn't give. Poor baby...she was tottling around the kitchen as I was loading the DW. I saw her go down, but I just wasn't fast enough. And boy did she cry (not that I blame her!). I just felt HORRIBLE!

We are taking fancy family photos (the kind with the hour long photo session!!!) next Saturday, I sure hope it's healed up by then!

First walking boo-boo

I would have thought it would have happened before now. We've been pretty fortunate. It happened Sunday...very early morning...she lost her balance and hit the corner of the toy basket (I tried to grab her, but I wasn't fast enough). For the record, wicker doesn't give--much. Dear old dad grabbed the camera while Mom grabbed the crying kid. Poor thing. She did cut her lip a little, she probably bit it. Thank goodness it wasn't too bad. We're waiting for the bad one that gives the black eye or cut face, you know the one.

Ella's with her Parents

Another Buckner family has their daughter, Ella! Drop by and and tell D & A congrats and see their precious Ella! They are currently in Ethiopia preparing to bring her home. We met them at various agency events. They are also waiting to travel to China to bring their child home. They started with China, but with the extended wait, they decided to go to Ethiopia while waiting for their Chinese child.

Ella is absolutely precious! Congrats D & A!

7 Months!

It's hard to believe, but 7 months ago today our little Megan became....Megan!

April 1, 2008 in China
(doesn't that rice look yummy? But she loved it.)

October 31, 2008
(with her puppy--one of her favorites right now!)

Boy has she changed!!! And how time has flown!

Happy Halloween

I actually did not plan on taking Megan trick-or-treating. Nor did I plan on this being her outfit. She was supposed to wear a cute duck costume that I got years ago (literally). It's over 80 degrees here...and she was already hot and the costume was REALLY heavy. So, as I was getting the under clothes on for the duck costume, I saw another one! The little skirt actually came from my neighbor. I was keeping it for future play..who knew it would work for a costume now!?

Attempt 1

Attempt 2

Attempt 3--Action Shot
Don't you love the rings?

We weren't going to go trick-or-treating b/c it just happens too late. And Miss Megan decided she didn't need a nap this afternoon, again this week. So there was NO WAY we were delaying bedtime. We did that after the zoo a few weeks ago, and it wasn't pretty...for anyone in this house. But, the local businesses were doing trick-or-treating downtown late afternoon. And since she was CRABBY she needed to have something to keep her busy. This was the perfect opportunity. We weren't down there long, but long enough to keep the crabs away for a little while...and supper is cooking right now.

Such a helper...

Helping Dad stock the fridge,
or is it supervising??? hhmmm....

Here's Megan playing "peek-a-boo".

Secret Blog Pal Revealed!

My Secret Blog Pal is....Tracey!

It's been so fun getting to know Tracey & Richard as they are waiting for their son, Sam. He should be here in a little over a month. Want to see a cute picture of little Sam??? Head over to here for a REALLY good 3D ultrasound of their precious Sam. And pray for Sam's birthmom, K, she's having some complications that could end up in a c-section.

Thanks, Tracey!

Pure Cuteness

She uses all sorts of things for a phone.
Here it's her music player, but the rings are used often.

She was being so cute when we were outside, I had to get a picture.

Sleep update

I got some great ideas...thank you. Unfortunately, most of them we've tried. The one thing I didn't mention that we tried was different diapers. I had a theory that her very wet diaper felt cold and woke her up early. Megan is a BIG drinker at supper. I mean she can down 6oz of diluted juice (in addition to her big appetite--she can eat 2 eggs, plus peas. She ALWAYS has room for peas!). Then she'd have her bottle--which she'd drink at least 6oz of it, sometimes all 8oz. Needless to say, the diaper was ALWAYS completely soaked by morning. I've heard that Huggies made some great overnight diapers. Well, I could only find pull-ups that were overnights. So, we tried them. They seem to be working. It seems they have a liner of some sort that keeps her from feeling how wet she is. But, maybe it's just happen chance and completely unrelated to the diaper. I don't know. It could also be because she's teething. One molar popped through during this time. She's got another one where the gums are simply bulging, but as of yesterday it still hadn't come through all the way. I also noticed there are a couple of other places where her gums are really tender, so I'm sure she's working on a few more.

At any rate, over the past week, she's slept until sometime between 4:30-5:55am. Although that can be deceiving. She's started having a "tough hour" typically between 11:30-12:30 where she is so fussy, it typically requires me to go in and rub her tummy or back. Often time, several times during that hour. She'll slip off into sleep, but then semi-wake up and then be frustrated that she is awake then throw her paci somewhere and can't find it. Some of the time she is awake and looking at me, other times her eyes are closed. She's really restless during this time as well. The morning she slept until almost 6am, she actually woke up at 3:30 and then fell back to sleep in the rocker with me after I gave her some tylenol. Since we don't have a clock in there, I simply rocked...and dozed off a few times. I couldn't believe it was that late!!! Needless to say, the rest of the naps were a bit late too, so thank goodness we have some flexibility in our schedule!!!

I'm not sure what we are doing to make it better. Or maybe it's nothing that we are doing and simply she's sleeping. Who knows! I can say that we have started putting her pjs on right after supper, then we play quietly (well, not rowdy games, which I have to remind DH!) for about 30 minutes. Then we read books a little after 6pm, have milk, then head to her bedroom at about 6:15. It's sure helped her to go to sleep easier (well, except last night when Dad put her to sleep for the first time since surgery). And she seems to be doing better. I don't know. Again, maybe unrelated. The other thing I'm doing differently is I pray while we're rocking that she'll have sweet dreams, fun dreams, happy dreams and that she'll rest well (and long!). So that's another change.

Afternoon nap--well, I decided I just couldn't always squeeze in the 30 minute video, so I've started reading books. I tell her when the last book is and what we will do after it and it seems to help her wind down and go to sleep fairly easily. We've had several 90 minute naps over the past few weeks. That's good. She's getting about 12 hours of sleep a day, and we're edging toward 12 and half hours. I'm hoping for 13 hrs very soon.

Now..the next area I need help...breakfast! She's apparently not a big breakfast eater (although she makes up for it at lunch and supper!). I've tried eggs, waffles, poptarts, various kinds of cereal. She pretty much was "no go" on all of it the except Kix. Oh, and sometimes Cheerios. Sometimes she'll eat some of my cinnamon raisin bagel with a little peanut butter. Otherwise, she takes one look at what I offer...drinks her juice...maybe takes a bite and signs "all done". That's her version of turning up her nose. Silly girl. So, I regroup and offer something else. Suggestions???

What an Exciting Day!

Secret Blog Package

What an exciting mail day today!!! I got a fun package from my Secret Blog Pal (and most of the chocolates didn't even make it long enough to get a photo of it! As evidenced by the pile of wrappers...so sad.)! I am looking forward to making that puppet...looks like fun! The small nail care kit will go in the diaper bag...I never seem to have a fingernail file when I need one! Thanks so much! I'm anxious for the big reveal next week!!!

Hair clips

Then...I also got my box of hair clips. I've been excited to get these for several days...and they arrived today!!!! I won't say how much I spent on the 30+ clips, but it was reasonable This is not all of them...Megan has one in her hair right now. AND I got some for Christmas presents for various individuals (and I didn't want to ruin the surprise as I think their parents all check the blog) so they are not in the photograph. Each clip is "no slip" that seems to work! Megan's had hers in for over an hour, and it has not moved (even though she's not STOPPED moving!). They are SO CUTE! And VERY high quality! If you are interested, I got them from Love to Sparkle. Heather is awesome to work with!!!! And her prices are incredible!

It's going to be SO FUN to pick out a hair clip every day! I've not put what I have in unless we are going somewhere because they get loose, then she pulls them out. She touched this one when I put it in, but hasn't touched it since! Seriously, the picture does not do them justice! They are AWESOME!!!!

And...to top it all off...Fall weather has FINALLY ARRIVED!!!! It was warm this morning (mid 70s), but a cold front come through...it's probably in the 50s now! Feels SO GOOD to have cooler weather!!!!

17 Months!

Turning pages of the book with the rings

The rings are always with us!
Who can hold a bottle, when they MUST HOLD RINGS (preferably the orange ones)
Thanks to Bethany, she has 2 orange ones, now.

Megan is now 17 months old!!! She still cruises like crazy when crawling. Seriously. She's fast. She's starting to bear crawl quite a bit, like a half walk, half crawl. I'm hoping it means that she's closer to walking all the time. She is walking better all the time, but often chooses to crawl over walk (after all, right now she's still much faster crawling than walking). Besides, it's now sock season, and they are slippery on the tile!

She experienced the zoo on Friday for the first time.
She could have cared less about the animals, but loved trying to get everyone's attention.
Oh, my social butterfly!